Docetaxel (Taxotere), or chemotherapy, will as all other treatments for advanced prostate cancer stop working. Many of us will progress quickly to this stage and eventually face a situation where there are no longer any approved treatments available to control our prostate cancer. If you are lucky enough to have an oncologist who is creative [...]
Today’s New York Times has published another of its fantastic articles about cancer and coping with cancer. Today’s article, written by Jane Brody, discusses chemo brain. Until a short time ago, many doctors denied that it even existed, but today it is pretty much accepted as being real. One is said to suffer from chemo [...]
There is some good news on the horizon, or at least we are setting up for the possibility of some future good news. Coming off of the recent news about the very successful phase II trial of CB7630 (abiraterone acetate), Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. has reached agreement with the FDA under a special protocol assessment (SPA) [...]
Scott Goodwin has been a guest writer on this blog. He has been sharing his experiences and feelings as he continues his journey on chemotherapy. Scott is not doing as well as we all had hoped. His final paragraph says "When does the time come when a man will stop all treatments and try to [...]
Once we become hormone refractory (HRPC) there remains only one approved drug to treat our prostate cancer, docetaxel. As with hormone therapy (ADT) docetaxel also stops working after a period. There have been different strategies used to try to deal with this untenable situation, including the use of docetaxel on an intermittent schedule. A recent [...]
One of the more common side effects from Taxotere (chemotherapy) is nausea. People often refer to this side effect as retching, stomach ache, throwing up, queasy, heart burn, motion sickness, dry heave, puke, and feeling sick to my stomach. However, not everyone experiences nausea. There are many drugs (these medications are called anti-nausea drugs or [...]
That is the big question I am dealing with this week. I have been so pleased with my recent success with lowering my PSA, but the last test has reversed the trend. My PSA has shown a drastic rise. It went from just under .60 to almost 2.0 within a two week period! As we [...]
Scott has been graciously reporting on his experience undergoing chemotherapy in this blog. You can see his prior posts by searching by his name. On his last report he shared that he was going to take an unorthodox step, stopping his hormone blockade when on chemo. Normally, when chemotherapy is used to treat advanced prostate [...]
An announcement from Market Watch claims that Cougar Biotechnology has come to an agreement with the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct an additional Phase III trial of abiraterone acetate in prostate cancer. The currently ongoing and much in demand Phase III trial of abiraterone acetate was designed for prostate cancer survivors who [...]
How does the song go- "Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.” That is a feeling that I have experienced and that I believe we all will experience. Nevertheless, we have to continue to plow through our treatments, pills, endless doctors appointments and, of course the co-pays. I do find that it [...]
